A woman who has no children inherited a piece of land with her brother, and she wants to give her share to one of her brother’s five children. Is that permissible for her?

The questioner : A brother and a sister.

The Shaykh : A brother and a sister.

The questioner : They inherited a piece of land. The sister has no children, and the brother has five children. She wanted to give or relinquish her share to one of his five children. Is this permissible for her, if it is from the goodness of her heart?

The Shaykh : Are the children the children of her brother?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : If it is of her own free will, may Allah bless her, provided there is no pressure involved.

The questioner : She specified only one.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : She specified only one of the five.

The Shaykh : Yes, of course, this ruling is not the same as if a father wanted to give a gift to one of his children. This is not like a father. But here there is room for independent legal reasoning and opinion. If she is... what would she be to him? Yes, if she is his aunt, and if this aunt knows that if she gives a gift to one of her brother’s children, she does not know that this gift will not stir the resentment of the other brothers, the other sons of her brother, toward their brother who was given the gift, or toward their aunt, if it does not stir their resentment, there is no obstacle. But if she wants to be a tool for stirring up resentment, it is not permissible.

The questioner : Averting harm is more important.

The Shaykh : Yes, that is from one side. From another side, and this is a very important point, it is—peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings. You either acted on the hadith in its entirety, or you acted on the second half of it. In the first case, if you acted on the hadith in its entirety, we, or at least I, have been short with you. And this is what we see now, what is our companion’s opinion with you, or your luck with us.
The student : You have not fallen short, my Shaykh. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : Now, when you entered, you said “peace be upon you,” so you acted on half of the hadith . So you entered and greeted, and I was, praise be to Allah, attentive, so I returned the greeting. But you did not notice that when you left, you greeted.
The student : I did not greet.

The Shaykh : Ah, so it remains.
The student : ....

The Shaykh : So the attentiveness was in its place. So you should be attentive a second time, and let you act on the hadith with both its ends, not with one end. Is that clear?

The questioner : Yes, it is clear. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner : Shaykh, we have a question.

The Shaykh : Not yet, not yet. I said secondly, and this is an important matter: we need to look at the reason and the motive for this aunt specifying one of her brother’s children with this gift. If the motive is religion, that is excellent, with the condition mentioned earlier. But if there is something else, it must be known so that it can be judged with what is fitting for it from the Shari'ah perspective. You have prolonged our time.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, my Shaykhs. It is as if I...

The Shaykh : Peace and mercy of Allah be upon you.

The questioner : It is possible for Shaykh Ali, or for Zayd among people, that he gives a gift from his wealth to a certain person. But at the time when this Zayd gives to one of his sons and not the other, it becomes not permissible. But if he gives a gift, there is no reservation, my Shaykh, regarding giving the gift. For example, it might be that he gives this gift in charity with half of his wealth, or it is just a little talk around the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding Sa'd.

The Shaykh : The hadith is explicit: . So it is permissible for a man to give in charity whatever he wishes of his wealth, as long as it does not exceed one-third. This is for other than the children.

The questioner : That is to say, we say that this gift does not exceed, for example, a specific amount among the conditions you mentioned.

The Shaykh : Any gift.

The questioner : A gift.

The Shaykh : The aunt?

The questioner : The aunt.

The Shaykh: No.

The questioner : This is what I want to reach.

Another questioner : My Shaykh, we were in...

The Shaykh : A moment, for the sake of Allah, a little.
The student : Please, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : First: Abu Suhayb’s question was not about a woman who has children.

The questioner : No, she has children.

Another questioner : She does not have children.

The Shaykh : May Allah guide you, may Allah guide you, may Allah guide you. Be patient.

The questioner : Amen, amen, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : First, the question was not that the aunt has children. But perhaps she has children, but he did not mention it. Be patient, the infection does not spread to you. May Allah reward you with good, Abdullah.

The questioner : And beware of that.

The Shaykh : The question was not that the aunt has children. Now let us assume another woman. The other woman is up to you, but not up to you, I mean, it is up to you that you wanted to assume a scenario that she has children. Every question has an answer, but we want from our brothers not to double up. They say with the intention of this, while he did not intend this. You are the one who intended this, so let it come from you, not from others.

The questioner : The imam of the doubters.

The Shaykh : Heh. No, now you made a mistake.

The questioner : The amount.

The Shaykh : May Allah guide you, May Allah guide you.

The questioner : Amen, amen.

The Shaykh : You are making a mistake in your favor, not in my favor. And therefore, if speech is silver, silence is gold.

The questioner : Repeat the question so they understand, Shaykh. Repeat the question so they understand, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Let us assume now that this woman has children. Her work and her giving in charity to one of her brother’s sons has no relation to the hadith of Sa'd, why? Because the hadith of Sa'd has a relation to the bequest, and our discussion is not about the bequest but about the gift. So every bequest is a gift, but not every gift is a bequest. Therefore, the Shari'ah rulings associated with the bequest do not apply to every gift. In the sense that a person to whom Allah has bestowed blessings, but who has a good and willing soul, and he gives away all his wealth for the sake of Allah, but with the condition that he does not leave his family and children as a burden. But he has a lot of wealth, and he gives in charity not one-third but two-thirds, and he leaves for his family during his lifetime one-third, and the one-third drowns them in goodness. Who says to him, “You do not do good”? Therefore, we must not forget the difference between the gift and the bequest.

The questioner : By the way, my Shaykh, the wording of this hadith does not have the word “shall I give in charity.”

The Shaykh : That is in the bequest.

The questioner : In the bequest as well.
The student : .

The Shaykh : Correct, but as a wording, it is “shall I bequeath” and “shall I give in charity.”

The Shaykh : That is: with my bequest.

The questioner : Ah, with my bequest, this is because the apparent meaning, the apparent meaning of the hadith, “shall I give in charity,” means other than the bequest.

The Shaykh : One gives in charity. There is no limitation in the Shari'ah for charity, as is the case with the bequest. Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, I think you all know, that he gave in charity all his wealth. But do you think he would bequeath all his wealth? No, because there is a text that it is not permissible to bequeath more than one-third.

The questioner : You descend from... the bequest.

The Shaykh : He gives in charity one-third and leaves two-thirds.

The questioner : During his lifetime, my Shaykh. During his lifetime, he gives in charity one-third and leaves two-thirds.

The Shaykh : We spoke about the bequest. One during his lifetime. We explicitly distinguished between the bequest and the gift.